Case of the missing W-2s: They were never printed

CHICO — Thousands of Chico State University employees have not received their 2013 W-2s from the state yet — even though they were legally required to be mailed by Jan. 31 — because they were never printed, the State Controller's Office confirmed Wednesday.

Agency spokesman Garin Casaleggio said his office was informed Tuesday by the California State University Chancellor's Office that some employees did not receive their respective W-2s.

The ensuing investigation revealed that of the 345,000 wages and tax statements that were slated to be mailed to state and CSU employees on Jan, 24, one batch of university employees was inadvertently not processed.

Approximately 3,900 employees, the majority of which were employed by Chico State, did not receive their documents. A few other campuses were affected.

"This afternoon, the W-2s were mailed to impacted employees and we will work closely with the Chancellor's Office to ensure those impacted are well taken care of," Casaleggio said.

Concerns about security of people's personal information, which includes full names, Social Security numbers, addresses and earnings, are not necessary, as the missing W-2s were never printed at all, he said.

"We are extremely concerned for the safety of the privacy of their information," Casaleggio said. "We appreciate their patience and are extremely hopeful they will be receiving them as quickly as possible."

Reached late Wednesday, Chico State spokesman Joe Wills was not able to speak to the news in great detail because he had been out of the office and was not able to talk with other university officials about impacts of the State Controller's announcement. He did say it sounded like positive news.

"It's unfortunate that this happened and I'm glad to hear they figured out that in fact they weren't printed and they are being re-mailed," he said. "At least it appears that it is not a case of lost mail, since we did have some employees understandably worried about their W-2s either being stolen or lost and concerns about identity theft and what could happen in those circumstances."

For Mark Leigh, a staff member at University Farm, who was among those worrying about security compromises of his personal information, news that the delay was a printing error brought much relief from concerns about identity theft and other potential impacts. He said he was happy to know his W-2 should be arriving shortly in the mail.

"Better late than never, I guess," he said. "And just knowing they are not somewhere sitting where they can be accessed by somebody is comforting. I guess I was hoping for that outcome."

He noted that in his experience Chico State had done all it could during the delay, putting out information as it could and providing quick return on unofficial W-2s when requested. He had asked for his Tuesday afternoon and had it Wednesday morning.

"I think they were in the dark as much as the people who didn't receive them, and all while probably not having theirs either," Leigh said.

The specific number of people affected by the unprinted W-2s was not available, but Sarah Langford, Chico State's public affairs coordinator, said earlier in the day that about 60 percent of the campus' state employees did not receive the documents. The campus employs 2,000 people, not counting student employees paid by the state and employees no longer employed by the university but who received pay in 2013.

The missing documents have been the "topic of the week" around campus, said Charles Turner, chairman of political science department and president of the Chico State chapter of the California Faculty Association.

He had heard from several faculty members who were upset they haven't received their W-2s and he knew the campus was working on the situation.

Turner, whose own W-2 didn't arrive, said security was a concern.

"If they mailed out all these forms and they didn't end up where they are supposed to go, you have to wonder where they did end up," he said.

Turner was not sure what legal ramifications anyone would have for the delayed documents, he said.

Until the cause of the problem was known, the university offered employees two options.

The first was to call and request an unofficial W-2 from the Human Resources Services Center on campus, which is free and takes about 24 hours to process.

An alternate choice was to request a duplicate from the State Controller's office in person at the Human Resources Services Center, for which the $8.50 fee will be waived if the address on file is correct but there is a much longer turnaround time.

On Wednesday, the campus sent out an all-campus announcement and has a frequently asked questions page posted on its website at www.csuchico.edu/hr/payroll/w-2faqs.shtml.